Happily Ever After
by Kay Kylo
Summary: Possibly overrated. Not all fairy tales end with happily ever after. COMPLETED. Yes, it is short.
1. The Beginning

Title: Happily Ever After  
  
Summary: Not all fairy tales end with "happily-ever-after". And when warned of this and one ignores it, the consequences are dire. Two chapters. I think. I hope it's good.  
  
Okay, this is a tester, I guess, where I'm playing with types of writing. So, my teacher in AP Language told us about this kind of book where you could honestly start anywhere in the book and read forever because the last sentence is the same as the first. Or something like that. So I'm playing. Unfortunately, it came out in the most angsty story I can write.  
  
The saddest story I can think of is where someone is told about something bad about to happen, and they refuse to do anything about it. So, that's how it is.  
  
Enjoy, if you can. (Teary eyed)  
  
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Inuyasha stirred and stretched, his golden eyes searching the campsite. Kagome was gone. He shrugged and promptly raided her bag for the life- giving ramen.  
  
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Kagome, meanwhile, was wandering the forest. Her mind was foggy, trying to remember just where to campsite was. Or at least where the stream was. She had lost both in searching for one. She wandered for several minutes and then sat down on a log she conveniently found.  
  
"Hey, what do you think you are doing this far out?"  
  
Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, shocked by the fearful tone in his voice.  
  
"Just going to a stream for a drink of water," she murmured fearfully. "Don't get mad at me!"  
  
"Gomen, gomen Kagome. I was afraid," Inuyasha murmured, his wide golden eyes so darn beautiful with tears shining in them. "I don't want to lose you."  
  
Kagome tilted her head, her mind somewhat cleared by his apology. "Are you feeling all right, Inuyasha? You sound upset." The silver-haired hanyou dropped to his knees before her, his hands gripping her hands in a tight squeeze.  
  
"No, I'm not okay!"  
  
"What? Are you sick?" She reached up to touch his forehead, but he pulled away.  
  
"Yes, yes I am!"  
  
"With what?" Kagome asked quietly, running through the medicines she had in her bag, hoping she had something strong enough to help a youkai.  
  
"Love."  
  
Kagome stopped thinking and glared coldly at him. "I'm not going to treat you with something Kikyo gave you. It's your own fault. Besides, wouldn't you be glad? She's alive enough to give you something to make you sick," she stated coldly.  
  
"No, Kagome, wait!"  
  
It was too late; she was standing and walking away. Suddenly, he leapt and caught her arm. He dragged her back to him and before she could protest, he kissed her. Square on the lips. Hard. Desperate. Pleading, desiring, hoping, wishing, pleading.  
  
Wasn't this what she had always wanted from Inuyasha? So, why wasn't she happy? Was it the fact that she had seen him with Kikyo too many times? It was probably that. Cursing her heart, she gave in to the one thing she had wanted: him. He gently and yet forcefully kissed her continually deeper.  
  
Slowly, he drew her down into the depths of oblivion. Until his teeth grazed her lips. She tried to pull away, to warn him from that, but he only pulled her tighter. She gasped and tried to pull away, but he succeeded in cutting her.  
  
And she knew who it really was. Poison, black to her miko's white, seeped into her blood from his mouth, and she tried to purify it. It was gone, but more quickly filled her blood stream. Before long, it was only poison, and not youki entering her blood stream. She could not purify it.  
  
She felt his arms let go of her and she swayed dangerously. She caught sight of Sango, Inuyasha and Miroku, before everything swirled and it disappeared into the poison Naraku had injected her with.  
  
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Inuyasha swore loudly. It was Kagome, and Naraku. Naraku and Kagome. Kissing. And she seemed to be enjoying it. He could understand if she had chosen Miroku, that Hobo kid, or even Kouga. He would have even understood (a little bit) if it had been his brother. But Naraku?  
  
He had started to charge when Kagome pulled away, her eyes alight with a dark fire. She turned to them and a frown covered her face. "Oh, them." Those two words stung for some reason he could not understand, stopping him short.  
  
"Kagome-chan!" Sango cried, pain evident in her voice. "Why did you betray us?"  
  
"Kagome-chan she calls me," Kagome snapped, her eyes cold and filled with tears. "She's just using me, like the rest. Do you understand, Naraku, what they did to me?"  
  
Naraku gave them a cold glare and pulled her closer, into an intimate embrace. "Of course I could not, Koi."  
  
"She's using me! She just wants to find the shards, to find you, to kill you to avenge her family. I'm just a shard detector. I'm just a way to find Naraku," Kagome snapped, her body forming into his. Inuyasha felt his anger flare.  
  
"And the monk!" she spat. "To heal the hole in his hand. To avenge his father. To kill you. I'm the 'Naraku detector.' Nothing more, nothing less."  
  
Miroku stiffened in anger and tried to step forward, tears in his eyes when Sango held him back. "Not now, Miroku-sama. Not yet."  
  
"And that dirty hanyou," Kagome continued. Inuyasha started and shrunk away. The disdain and disgust in her voice hurt him. "He's just out for the jewel. Just to be a full-blooded youkai. He's just using me, as he used Kikyo before me."  
  
Naraku drew her shaking form to his chest and smiled evilly at them all. "Oh, how horrible, Koi. We will make them pay, won't we?"  
  
"NOW!" Sango screamed. Naraku easily dodged her tear-blinded attack. He spurned her with his foot and she fell back. Tears continued to fall as she blindly attacked the dark youkai, his grin never failing. She missed him every time.  
  
Inuyasha just sat there. What she had said had hurt. Horribly. He felt the pain leave his body, but suddenly, he felt something. It was sort of hard to explain. It was a feeling of pain that was not his, of love that was not his, and a feeling of regret that was not his.  
  
Kagome.  
  
He stood and blocked Sango's last attack for her. "Stop it, Sango."  
  
Sango did, and broke down, completely sobbing.  
  
Inuyasha gave her an empathetic look and then turned to Naraku. "You coward, you took control of her body, didn't you?" Naraku smirked and stepped back, Kagome still wound tight around him.  
  
"And if I did? What is she to you? A shard detector?"  
  
"She's my friend."  
  
"She's lost to you now. She's as good as dead."  
  
Inuyasha snarled and leapt at him, yet Naraku simply disappeared, taking Kagome's body with him. Inuyasha tried to run after them, tried to get his friend, his partner, back from his dirty clutches, yet he could not. Naraku had truly disappeared, leaving not even a scent after them. He stopped and looked over at a distraught Miroku and a destroyed Sango.  
  
"She really wouldn't say that, Sango," Miroku murmured softly. The warmth filled Inuyasha's chest, and he stepped forward, gently encircling both of them with his presence. They looked up at him and he squatted to look them in the eye.  
  
"Of course she wouldn't," Inuyasha added, his words sounding right to his ears. "We'll go find Naraku, destroy him, and get Kagome back, right?"  
  
Sango dried her eyes and then gave him a determined look. "Right!"  
  
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For five months they looked, and they found not even rumors of where Naraku was. Until the horrible day that changed all their lives. They had been wandering aimlessly, hoping to simply get Naraku's attention, since they had the rest of the shards. Wait; check that, they had one shard. The one that Inuyasha had kept. The rest Kagome had held on to.  
  
They must have gotten his attention, because Inuyasha suddenly smelt a scent that he had been hoping to smell long ago. Kagome. Shippou smelt her and went racing off, Inuyasha hot on his tail. He almost forgot to tell Sango and Miroku where they were going in his joy. Only moments had passed, though, when he smelt the other scent. Thick, sticky, and metallic. Blood.  
  
He caught up to him when Shippou screamed. Inuyasha pulled up, his eyes wide in shock and pain. No. She couldn't leave him. But it was too late. Her body was laid upon a tree stump that was large enough to leave her stretched out. Her head was tilted to the side, hiding her face from his view. Her chest was torn apart and Inuyasha could smell Naraku's reek on her. Bruises long ago given still were obvious on her arms and legs. Slowly, Inuyasha moved over to her form, stepping over a weeping kitsune child as he did so.  
  
Crumpled into her lax hand was a piece of parchment. He took it out and found kanji written on it. He could not understand kanji. He was never taught. So, Inuyasha left it on the stump for the others to find.  
  
He saw her face then, and that was what broke him. Her eyes were wide, open, and glassy. Empty. Never to come back.  
  
The howl that shook the forest was never to be repeated again under that sky with such pain and intensity. The youkai was ready and willing to taste blood: Naraku's blood.  
  
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Kagome was terrified. She was alone except for a small presence she recognized as Midoriko of the Jewel of Four Souls. And she knew all that happened.  
  
She saw her own death, and then the second of her body. She could see the helplessness of her friends as they tried in vain to find a way to save her. She could see the rage and pain and, strangely enough, loss of his mate that Inuyasha displayed as he raced angrily after Naraku. She could see them trying to fight off Naraku's legions as the wasps tried to get the final shard.  
  
She saw the loss of the shard and the wasps leaving. She saw the jewel grow whole under Naraku's deadly poison. She knew that the only way her friends would survive would be to make a wish on the jewel now. A selfless wish.  
  
She saw them enter Naraku's domain. And she knew that it was time to begin. She entered Naraku's body with her formless self and surrounded the jewel, focusing her entire being on the jewel.  
  
'I wish. . . '  
  
The jewel glowed, understanding that it was finally being used for good.  
  
'I wish for the jewel to be completely purified . . . '  
  
The glow stuttered, knowing the wish needed one thing to be completely selfless.  
  
' . . .No matter what the cost.'  
  
The glow grew and Kagome knew pain, but it was a good pain. Soon she would feel nothing, would see nothing, and would be nothing.  
  
The jewel purified itself, and then slowly purified Naraku from the inside out. And Kagome knew her journey was complete.  
  
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Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippou watched in horror as light streamed out of Naraku. His screams elicited no pity, but set their nerves on edge.  
  
Suddenly, there was nothing. All of the youki from Naraku dropped to the ground, useless and weak. The Shikon Jewel dropped to the ground and rolled to Inuyasha's feet. Slowly, he dropped down to touch the jewel that was completely useless to any and all youkai.  
  
"Kagome. . . " he murmured. She had died for this jewel. It ought to be destroyed. He drew it up to dash it to the ground, but he knew nothing would happen. Growling, he clutched it tight and glared up at Naraku's remains.  
  
What he saw would haunt him for the rest of his days. Kagome stood before him, her chest still wide open, the wounds still obvious on her body. But her eyes smiled at him. She reached out and almost touched his face, letting a caress of air over his face touch him.  
  
"Oh, Kagome!" he whispered. The apparition nodded, looking as if she wished to stroke his hair, running her hand over his head, though not touching it.  
  
"I don't have much time," she whispered in answer.  
  
"No, we'll see each other again," he promised, hoping to ease his heart.  
  
Kagome sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I won't be there."  
  
"When we return to the earth."  
  
"No, I won't be there, Inuyasha."  
  
"Why?" he cried, pain in his body.  
  
"I made a wish, Inuyasha. I wished for the jewel to be purified, no matter what the cost. And now I know the cost. Total destruction," she murmured. "I will cease to exist." Inuyasha's breaths came quicker.  
  
"No, no! You can't leave me!" He reached out a hand to touch her face, but hesitated, drawing back. "You can't!" Kagome's apparition started to cry silent tears and shook her head.  
  
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I'm so sorry."  
  
She gasped and her back arched, pain in her face. When she could straighten herself, she looked at him one last time. "Good bye Inuyasha."  
  
And then, she was gone. Forever. Forever and always. As if her soul had disappeared. Inuyasha was taking in deep, gasping breaths and abandoned all he had worked for over the years.  
  
He left the exterminator and monk where they sat, tears rolling down their faces. He cared no more for them. His Kagome was gone.  
  
He raced to the site he had seen her body last. It was still there, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief. He still had this.  
  
Until it too disappeared, like smoke in the wind. It simply disappeared as if it was not real. Inuyasha fell upon his knees and screamed his pain to the world. Nothing came to answer him. They were gone.  
  
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The hanyou Inuyasha became full-youkai at that point, as he did frequently earlier when angry or frightened. But this time, not even his father's fang could free him from the rage.  
  
He grew to be a powerful youkai lord of the east, and eventually defeated his brother in a battle, taking Sesshoumaru's lands into his own. He was a fearsome beast for several years, until he was defeated by a monk and his exterminator wife. Legends say the two cried as they killed him, yet they did not regret what they did.  
  
Yet the wish worked. The rest of the world went on. The battles between the brothers did not affect the world on a large scale. Instead, their deaths opened a path for the humans to rise up and destroy the rest of those with youkai blood. Five hundred years later, a girl fell into a well and died in the past. Her parents never knew what happened to her.  
  
Yet the rest of the world went on. No one stopped to question what the tiny dramas might affect. They affected nothing.  
  
Her death meant nothing.  
  
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"Well, that's a nice fairy tale," Inuyasha snapped, turning his back on the tall, graceful female before him. The youkai female snarled and yanked him back to face her.  
  
"It is no fairy tale! It is what will happen!" the dream youkai snapped in return. "You will be killed by your own friends if you do not do something! She will die and it will only mean your death!"  
  
Inuyasha brushed off the youkai, stalking back to the camp. "What a lunatic," he murmured, not noticing the look of horror on the youkai's face.  
  
"Oh, please," she murmured. "May you know what will happen and take heed! When you see her dead face, you'll know I was right."  
  
Inuyasha sat down at the camp and took a few more hours of sleep before he awoke. He glanced around sleepily and noticed that Kagome was gone.  
  
He shrugged and promptly raided her bag for the life-giving ramen.  
  
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So, this is the chapter that is circular. That's all for now. I think I'm going to add another chapter that's happier. Just cause I can't stand sad endings. Well, sometimes I can. But I can't write them. So, I'm working on a happier ending.  
  
Tell me how bad or good (I highly doubt) my first true angst fic is.  
  
Oh, and just so that the curious ones would know, Kikyo is dead too. If they truly shared a soul, then if Kagome's soul is gone, so is Kikyo's, so she never existed. Understood? Good.  
  
NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!!!! FIRST TIME IN FIVE YEARS THAT OUR DISTRICT CLOSED BECAUSE OF SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! And it seriously wasn't that bad either. Oh well. Why am I complaining?  
  
Thank you for reading on the Kay Kylo express! Please make sure you keep your hands and feet near the computer when the story is slowing down. And if you have any comments or complaints or praise, please press the button and leave a note for the authoress!  
  
~ Kay Kylo 


	2. The End

THREE REVIEWS!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Anime Nienna: Thanks a bunch for the support! Rebecca is a fantastic artist, huh? Thanks for reading my other stuff too, I really appreciate it, more than you will know. I'll need to check up on your stories more, okay? Hunt me down if I fail to. . . Take care and God bless!!!  
  
f A t A l-N i T e M a R e: Before I say anything, nice name. Uh, sorry I made you cry, but isn't that the point of angst? YAY!!! I ACHIEVED MY GOAL!!! Thanks!!  
  
Xiyazaki: Well, here is the second (and final) chapter to Happily Ever After, as I only wanted it to be a one-shot, but it worked out as a two- shot. And about Miko's Man, working on it, slowly. . . I hope. I know what I want to write, but I'm in a reading mood as of now, as you can see (because it took me so darn long to post), and writing is hard to do in a reading mood. (Grr . . . Hate moods that refuse to leave. . . )  
  
And here it is, the second chappie to Happily Ever After (and last, too).  
  
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No. It couldn't be. It was starting to play out as the youkai had mentioned. Inuyasha dropped to his knees beside the tree stump, one hand clutching Kagome's lifeless one. That day he had found Kagome kissing Naraku. Naraku had taken her body, leaving only her spirit behind her.  
  
And now it was only a little amount of time before she would be gone forever.  
  
Inuyasha brought her hand to his lips, shaking in pain as he did so. He had been stupid. He had not taken the warning that youkai had told him. And now Kagome was going to die. And he was eventually going to be killed by Miroku and Sango. And they would hold no regrets.  
  
But what about Shippou?  
  
Inuyasha stopped as his mind fell upon a strange question. Shippou had not been mentioned in the dream youkai's foretelling. Maybe it was so horrible that he should not know.  
  
But Kagome was going to die.  
  
Inuyasha leaned back and let loose a howl of rage and pain, and loss. He loved her. He knew it now, as tears streamed down his face and the knowledge she was going to die dancing around his mind. He had waited to understand, waited to tell her, and waited for the time. And now, it was too late.  
  
He could never tell her. She was going to die anyway.  
  
"That's it, Naraku!" he screamed. "You're gonna die!"  
  
An unearthly chuckle was his only reward.  
  
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By Naraku's screams, Inuyasha knew that he was in pain, but he held no pity. The jewel would fall out, would roll to his feet, and Kagome would completely die. Everything was just as the youkai had said. The youki collapsed and the jewel rolled to his feet.  
  
Slowly, wishing for the moment to last, he reached down and picked up the jewel in-between two clawed fingers. He glared up, knowing that he would see Kagome next. And there she was. It was worse than what he could ever imagine. No word in any tongue could describe his horror and sickening disgrace as he was faced with Kagome's spirit, knowing he had caused her death.  
  
"Inuyasha," she murmured. "I've got to go now."  
  
This was it. The moment he had been dreading for five months. The moment Kagome would disappear completely. Forever. And ever. "No!" he screamed, his face to the ground. "I can't let you leave me!"  
  
"I have no choice," Kagome said quietly. "I made a wish." Inuyasha stood up, his hand clenched tightly around the Shikon. "Please, Inuyasha, understand!"  
  
"No! Kagome, I-" Inuyasha paused and glared at her apparition, fighting tears even though he knew it was impossible. His heart. . . it hurt. "Kagome, I love you!" The ghost jumped back, startled. "I always have, but now it's too late."  
  
Kagome's spirit walked toward him, her feet never touching the ground. Slowly, her hand reached out to touch Inuyasha's face. At first, her fingers did not touch his head, but slowly, her hand moved toward his hair. As if he could feel her, he imagined her fingers running through his hair.  
  
"I can almost feel you," she murmured. "Now I'm no better off than Kikyo."  
  
Inuyasha stepped toward her, his hand out appealingly. "Don't, don't say that, Kagome," he hissed huskily. "You're much better off than her." Kagome's ghost shook its head, whimpering in pain.  
  
"I can't! I'm dead, Inuyasha, never more! Get over it!"  
  
In a heartbeat, Inuyasha was millimeters away, his hands placed as if he wished to grab her tightly and hold her, but he held back. It would kill him to run his hands through thin air. "I-I can't get over it," Inuyasha whispered. "I can't get over you."  
  
Suddenly, he did not care. He did not care if he would later regret every moment of it. He did not care if he went crazy if he failed. He did not care if Miroku and Sango would end up killing him to put him to rest. All he did care about was showing Kagome that he loved her, no matter what the cost.  
  
His hands encompassed her, and surprisingly, gripped a warm, solid body. Closing the small gap between them, he captured Kagome's mouth in a light kiss. He could feel her soft lips answer him gently, and he nearly gasped in shock. He pulled away, staring at her in shock.  
  
A true, full, real body, a complete and alive Kagome stood before him. "Inu-Inuyasha," Kagome whispered, her eyes opening. "How. . .? I'm supposed to be dead!"  
  
Inuyasha met her eyes and hugged her in a bone-crushing hug. "Why are you complaining?" he shouted when he pushed her away to meet her eyes again. "I certainly would not!" He took another breath to continue his tirade, but a certain pair of lips sealed his mouth and his anger in one fell swoop. Hungrily, and surprisingly demanding, Kagome pressed her smaller form up against him, pulling him closer. When she asked for entrance to his mouth with a gentle plea, he dropped his jaw instantly, letting her believe she had the upper hand at that moment. 'Which,' his mind later continued telling him, 'she probably did.'  
  
After a long, heady moment, they pulled apart, only to be swept away again as Sango and Shippou found themselves entwined around Kagome. Hugs were exchanged and tears fell as the two sisters and mother and son were reunited, laughing the entire time.  
  
Suddenly, Kagome pulled away, looking at Miroku, who was seated calmly by the wall of the room, his own tears silent and the smile crossing his face elated. Without a single hesitation, she threw herself into his arms, and Miroku only held her close. All of a sudden, Miroku grabbed her waist and swung her around, him laughing loudly.  
  
"Kagome! I can't believe it!"  
  
He dropped her lightly to the ground and kissed her forehead. "Thank you," he murmured quietly. "But may I ask, not that I'm complaining, but what happened?"  
  
Kagome shook her head, shrugging as she did so. "I have no idea." Her eyes fell on Inuyasha, his eyes wide with delight as he simply watched her. "But I am not complaining either."  
  
She ran toward him, her arms outstretched, and he swept her up into a hug. Bliss surrounded them for a while, and Sango and Miroku watched them, standing peacefully next to each other. In quiet happiness, Miroku placed an arm on Sango's shoulders and laid his head on her own.  
  
Shippou watched them, certain he would be able to find a family in them, and looked back at the Shikon that Inuyasha had forgotten and dropped during his concern over Kagome.  
  
It sat on the ground, so fragile and pure. Shippou walked over to it and sniffed, and the soft out-breath of his lungs caused the jewel to disintegrate. He shrieked, causing the people around him to look at where he was. "It just disappeared!"  
  
Inuyasha suddenly understood in a way. In the youkai's foretelling, Kagome's body had disappeared when her soul was gone. Everything that was physically a part of her had disappeared. The jewel was the physical representation of Midoriko's soul. Holding Kagome tight, Inuyasha looked up, even though he was not sure where Midoriko was, and thanked her.  
  
The selfless wish had been given. The journey was complete.  
  
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Silently, her dark eyes wide in the rafters, a youkai smiled and looked upward, her physical eyes seeing only wood, but her mental eyes seeing years pass in a heartbeat.  
  
"Thank all goodness," she whispered quietly. "He chose correctly. It may have taken some time, but he chose correctly."  
  
And with a soft sparkle that showered glitter upon the remaining people in the small house, she disappeared, to whence she came.  
  
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It's all over. And I made it a happy ending. Sure it started sad, but I couldn't just jump to the happy, could I? Technically, sure, I could have, but it would not have made sense. So it's made, and my pathetically short story is done. *Confetti* MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! *cough, cough* Ahem.  
  
Fare thee well!!  
  
Keep your hands and arms inside the range of the computer and please leave any questions or comments in the review box. BEWARE OF THE SHARKS!!!! THEY WILL ATTACK IF NO REVIEWS COME IN!!!!!!! (Just kidding. . . They're better behaved than that. . .)  
  
~Kay Kylo 


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